Travelers
tried to squeeze every last bit out of summer, and as
predicted, the Transportation Security Administration screened a record number
of air travelers during the Labor Day holiday travel period.
Beginning on Wednesday, August 28, each day
surpassed the number of travelers from last year.
The total
includes 2,909,901 people on Friday, August 30. All totaled, more than 15
million people were processed over a six-day period, which does not include figures
for Tuesday, September 3.
The TSA predicted more than 17 million people
would take to the air this holiday weekend, ending on Wednesday, September 4.
In
fact, air travel has been so prevalent that the TSA headcount has been under two
million people per day just once since February 13.
It
wasn’t without a hitch, however, as weather and technical glitches impacted air
travelers. There were more
than 8,000 delays and 450 cancellations on Friday alone, and
NBC News reported another 5,000 delays on Labor Day, September 2,
as people started to go home.
More
people were also expected to drive as gas prices were down nearly 50 cents per
gallon, compared to last year.
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